#223 — Madness

I’ve found myself on the New York Times’ 73 Best Illustrations of 2024 list, for my front page of Sunday Opinion back in April. I’ve done a few NYT things recently, but this one was a real joy, working alongside art director Akshita Chandra.

And a big thank you to The Casual Optimist (aka Dan Wagstaff) for including my cover for Antonia Hylton’s Madness in Notable Book Covers of 2024. I always look forward to this list – Dan has an amazing eye for what’s going on in the field – so it means a lot to find myself on there. (Look I know there’s a pattern forming, but just to clarify: I don’t only do American-politics-in-black-and-white. Other rectangles are available.)

Posters

My annual selection of the year’s best film posters is now up on Creative Review. It’s the usual mix of obvious frontrunners, bizarre omissions of your personal favourites and at least one film that you have never even heard of. This is my seventh year of doing this (find previous lists here), and I should probably see if there are any particular patterns forming. One that I’m certain of, and always a good starting point for a shortlist: what was Willem Dafoe in this year? The man is a magnet for great poster art.

Elsewhere

• In the Summer of 1980, photographer Lisa Barlow was following the curve of Connecticut’s Route 69 in a beat-up rental car, when she came across a giant cross looming above the highway. Intrigued by the miniature replica of Jerusalem she found, she soon fell in love with the people who lived nearby. Decades later, Barlow’s photographs have now been collected in new book Holy Land USA.
• Lovely short film of the recording of Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s Wild God. Even if you’re not a fan, it’s worth watching just for the gorgeous seventies sci-fi setting of Miraval Studios.
• Posteritati’s exclusive collection of 30 original posters from the official Jim Jarmusch archive, each signed by director himself. I’ll take them all thank you very much. Will come in handy for my regular trip to the barber, where I hold up a picture of Tom Waits and say “THIS, MAKE ME THIS”.
• TWA 001–005 – a collaborative project between studio DR.ME and Oliver Wilson, son of Tony Wilson, aims to bring the largely unseen handmade posters and collected ephemera of the music legend into the public realm.
• What is the smallest story? Not the shortest story, but the smallest? Toby Litt on narrative minimalism.
• Lithub’s 167 best book covers of 2024. So much wonderful, wonderful work.
• Since the late 1950s, David Hurn has been photographing people engrossed in whatever they’re reading, from books and broadsheets to laptops and phones. His new book, On Reading, is a homage to the power of a good page-turner
• It’s Nice That’s Jenny Brewer talks to the team at UsTwo Games about anticipated threequel Monument Valley 3 and how they’ve integrated more nature into the architectural illusion puzzles. Had no idea this was coming, so this is a wonderful treat for the end of the year.
• Why a 1915 reading of a Kipling poem is the cherry on top of the 28 Years Later trailer. I try to avoid trailers as much as possible these days, but couldn’t resist this one.
• Always nice when Etsy throws your own forgotten origin story at you from out of the blue. I dread to think how many hours I spent set-squaring and stencilling and transferring with the Crayola Designer Kit – “a unique drafting system for designing your own cars, trucks, airplanes and spacecraft” – circa 1989, but I’m pretty sure it was my first real exposure to the D-word. Anyone else have this thing?